Bale tie



Nov. 13, 1934. A. v. ROWE 1,980,503

BALE TIE Filed March 21, 1934 INVERTER;

-22. fi x Patented Nov. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention relates to bale ties and more particularly to types ofbale ties in which the wire portions thereof vary in gauge and degree ofhardness.

It has been the practice heretofore to use bale ties made of 14 to 16gauge annealed wire. Annealed wire should be distinguished from wirecommonly referred to as straight drawn wire. Straight drawn wire has atensile strength which is considerably greater than annealed wire ofsimilar gauge but is not as pliable as annealed wire. For example, 14gauge annealed wire has a tensile strength of approximately 300 pounds,whereas 14 gauge straight drawn wire has a tensile strength ofapproximately 514 pounds. i The drawing of the wire causes it to partakeof a hardness commonly referred to as work hardness, and hence will notstretch when in use, whereas annealed wire will' experience considerablestretching. For instance, a 9 foot length of 14 gauge annealed wire,when used as a bale tie, may stretch as much as 5 inches.

It will also be understood that annealed wire having the same tensilestrength as a drawn wire will be considerably heavier inasmuch as theannealed Wire must be of larger gauge than the drawn wire. Applicant hasfound that the only portion of a bale tie which need be pliable orflexible for purposes of tying is the end portion of the tie which isslipped through the loop on the other end when the tie is wrapped arounda bale. Therefore, it is one of the important objects of the presentinvention to provide a bale tie, in which the major portion has lessweight than a 35 small pliable section at the free end thereof, and tothis end applicant proposes to secure or attach a relatively smallsection of annealed wire to a relatively large section of drawn wire.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved methods ofsecuring the annealed and drawn sections of wire together, and applicantproposes to accomplish this by welding the enlarged extremity of thedrawn section with an end of the annealed section.

45 Other objects will appear in the following specification taken inconnection with the annexed drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view ofmy bale tie with the straight end portion thereof, or rather thatportion which is used in the tying operation, annealed, while the mainbody of the bale tie is formed of straight drawn wire;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a bale tie in which the main wire portion isformed of a relatively light gauge of straight drawn wire and there isbuttwelded thereto a heavier gauge annealed wire end which is used inthe tying operation.

Before referring to the drawing, it might be stated that applicant hasdisclosed herein a character of bale tie which has the same or greaterstrength than the ordinary bale tie and still has the advantage of greatreduction in weight.

Further, it might be stated that this bale tie combines the advantagesof straight drawn and annealed wire in such manner that a more satis- 66factory bale tie. may be produced at a greatly reduced cost.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing is shown a bale tie which includes the mainwire portion 10 formed of relatively light gauge straight drawn wire. A70 loop 11 of any character may be formed, although in the presentinstance the loop 11 is formed by bending the wire in a straight line asshown, with the attachment end 12 welded directly to the main wire bodyportion 10. The straight end, or rather a portion of the straight end,indicated as 13, is annealed with the result that this end of the wirewhen passed around a bale may be readily and properly drawn through theloop 11 and twisted upon itself in the usual tying operation.

By constructing a bale tie in the manner above described, a bale tie ofuniform strength is produced at a muchreduced cost. Considerable savingin expense is accomplished by merely annealing that portion of the wirewhich is used in the tying operation.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing, the main body of the bale tie has beendesignated 14, the same being formed of a relatively light gaugestraight drawn wire. It is of course well known in wire on drawing thatstraight drawn wire has greater strength than annealed wire. However,same is not as capable of being so readily bent or twisted.

In this instance a loop 15 is formed in exactly the same manner as shownin Fig. 1, although it is quite obvious that this loop, as well as loop11 in Fig. 1, might just as well be formed in several other ways. Theopposite end of the straight drawn wire 14 has its area increasedsubstantially, as shown at 150., either by one character of mechanicaloperation or another, and to this expanded end portion is secured bymeans of a butt-welding operation, a portion of heavier gauge annealedwire which in the drawing has been designated 16. By constructing a baletie in the above manner, applicant has provided a main wire body portionof straight drawn wire which has the necessary strength with a reductionin weight, this type of wire being better adapted for passing about abale the tensile strength thereof would be materially decreased, andbreakage w'ould occur at the point of annealing; In other words," theenlarged section a'of the'drawn: wire has sufficient length to preventthe annealing heat from traveling as far as-thedrawn wire. 1 Inpractice, it has conventional annealed bale ties.

been found satisfactory-Etc employ 16 gauge drawn wire for'the largersection 14, and 14 gaugeannealed wire-r-for'the section 16. Byincreasing the end portion 15a, ofthe 16 gauge drawn wire to a thicknessapproximating the 14 gauge annealed wire andthenyvel'ding the twosections" together,rthe resultingbale tie has a substantial uniformtensilestr' ngth throughout the entire length thereofi By butt-welding ahea pof annealed wire such as shown -at"1'6 to thestraight drawn wire,applicant has provided a means for satisfactorily tying the bale, italways being advisable of course to have a 'type of wire that is readilytwisted upon itself for this tying operation. However, by varying thegauge ofthe wire, applicant has, provided a bale .tie: --of uniformstrength throughout with a great reduction of weight and uniformity ofstrengthand with an added advantage of greatly reduced cost.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present inventioncontemplates the provision ofbale ties which possess numerous advantagesover conventional bale ties with which applicant isfamiliar. Aspreviously pointed out, conventional bale ties are usually made .of 14to 16 gauge annealed wire. A 9-foot length of annealed wire, which hasthe approximate length ota bale tie, will stretch approximately 5 incheswhen in use, whereas, by'employ'ing applicant's combined drawnand'annealedwire structure, practically no elongation takes "place, Theslight elongation of the small annealed section 16 is negligible.

Furthermore, applicants bale tie gives-the required tensile strength.with the use of'a smaller gauge wire, thereby materially reducing theweight or bulk of the tie. The difference in size and weight is ofconsiderable "consequence when it is understood that bale ties areshipped in bundle form, each bundle containing 250 bale wires. Also,drawn wire costs less'than annealed wire of the same gauge, and henceapplicants bale ties may be more economically produced. In fact,applicant is'able to produce the combined drawn and annealedtiejstructure with a saving of at least 22 percent "over the cost ofproducing To this saving must also be added the saving in freightresulting from the decrease in Weight and bulk. Furthermore, theeificiency of applicants bale tie is greater than conventional ties,inasmuch as the tensile strength of applicants combined wire sections isgreater'than the tensile strength of the usual annealed wire bale ties.

In addition to reducing the stretch or elongation of the bale tie to anegligible amount, attention is also directed to the fact thatapplicants drawn wire section 14 is applied to the when compared w 1'liability or wire, the tying maygbe effected with the required degree ofease.j,Furthermore, applicants described arrangement, in addition'toreducing the weight andincreasing the tensile strength,

overcome the mairr disadvantages that attend the useof any of the knownor patented types of bale ties.

My present invention is not directed to any specific form of wirereceiving meansor loop.

In other words, various forms of wire receiving means or loops may beemployed without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention;

I have made reference herein to straight drawn wire, and, for purposesof clearness, it

should be understood that this is the type of conventional wire commonlyreferred to by wire manufacturers as bright h'ard drawn wire or brightbasic hard drawnwire.

What I claim is: 1

1. A wire bale tiehaving a wire receiving means at one end, them'ainwire portion of the bale tie being formed of straight drawn wire and theother end being more pliable to permit tying thereof to the receivingmeans.

2. A wire bale tie having a wire receiving means at one end, the mainwire portion being formed of relatively light gauge straight drawn wireand the other portion being formed of heavier gauge more pliable wire,welded to the first mentioned portion.

3. A wire bale tie having a wire receiving means at one end, the main.wire portion being formed of relatively light gauge straight drawn wirewith a small portion adjacent its end substantially increased indiameter and a strip of heavier gauge wire welded to said expandedportion.

4. A wire bale tie having a wire receiving means at one end, including amain wire portion of a larged extremity a length of wire of heaviergauge,

and welding the abutting parts together without subjecting the smallergauge wire to annealing heat. 7

'7. The method of producing wire bale ties including the steps ofenlarging one extremity of a relatively small gauge drawn wire;positioning a length of heavier gauge annealed wire in abutting relationwith said enlarged extremity, and welding said abutting parts togetherwithout causing the drawn wire extending beyond the enlarged extremityto experience annealing heatr ALVIN V. ROWE.

